Refrigerator with device for preventing chilled air from leaking

ABSTRACT

A refrigerator with a chilled air leakage preventing device that has high insulating efficiency and an aesthetically pleasing appearance and that is not easily damaged is provided. The refrigerator with the chilled air leakage preventing device includes a cabinet for forming a storage compartment, a door for opening and closing the storage compartment, a gasket provided to the circumference of the door to seal a gap between the cabinet and the door, and a chilled air leakage preventing member for sealing the gap between the cabinet and the door when the door is closed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority from Korean Patent Application No. 2004-84184, filed on Oct. 20, 2004 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a refrigerator with a device for preventing chilled air from leaking and, more particularly, to a device of a refrigerator for preventing chilled air from leaking through gaps between a main body of a refrigerator and doors of the refrigerator.

2. Description of the Related Art

In general, a refrigerator is an apparatus for keeping food fresh for a long time and includes a freezing cycle, for supplying chilled air to storage compartments in which food is stored, and doors, each having one side hinged to the front of a cabinet that forms the storage compartments. The cabinet and the doors have a dual-panel structure and the space between the two panels is filled with an insulating material to prevent the chilled air of the storage compartments from being transmitted to the outside.

Gaskets that seal gaps between the cabinet and the doors when the doors are closed are provided on the inner circumferences of the doors. The gaskets, made of hollow rubber, are attached to the cabinet and the doors to prevent the chilled air of the storage compartments from leaking to the outside.

As described above, according to a conventional refrigerator, the gaps between the cabinet and the doors are sealed by the gaskets to prevent the chilled air from leaking. However, the amount of the chilled air that leaks through the gaps between the cabinet and the doors occupies a considerable part of the overall amount of lost chilled air.

In order to solve such a problem, Korean Patent Publication No. 2000-0028481 discloses a door sealing device of a refrigerator that operates in accordance with a change in temperature of a refrigerator to prevent chilled air from leaking and to prevent outside air from entering.

The door sealing device of the refrigerator disclosed in the above patent publication includes a shape memory alloy that contracts and expands in accordance with change in temperature, a supporting shaft around which one side end of the shape memory alloy is wound such that the shape memory alloy is supported, and a sealing plate combined with the other side end of the shape memory alloy to seal up gaps between a cabinet and doors in accordance with the contraction and expansion of the shape memory alloy.

However, according to the door sealing device of the refrigerator, since the sealing plate operates such that the gaps (passages) between the cabinet and the doors are opened when the temperature of storage compartments is low, chilled air leakage preventing efficiency deteriorates. That is, when the temperature of the storage compartments is low, chilled air is prevented from leaking only by gaskets such that insulating efficiency deteriorates.

Also, when the doors are opened, the temperature around the shape memory alloy is raised such that the shape memory alloy expands. Therefore, the sealing plate moves to seal the gaps between the cabinet and the doors, which deteriorates the external appearance of the refrigerator. Also, a food container may collide with the sealing plate to be damaged while inserting the food container into or withdrawing the food container from the storage compartments.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an aspect of the invention is to provide a chilled air leakage preventing device that exhibits high insulating efficiency and aesthetically pleasing appearance, but is not easily damaged.

In accordance with the aspect, the present invention provides a refrigerator including a cabinet for forming a storage compartment, at least one door for opening and closing the storage compartment, a gasket provided to the circumference of the door to seal up a gap between the cabinet and the door, and a chilled air leakage preventing device for further sealing up the gap between the cabinet and the door when the door is closed.

Also, the chilled air leakage preventing device is provided on the upper and lower and right and left sides of the door.

Also, the chilled air leakage preventing device includes a chilled air leakage preventing member having a plate-shaped wing for sealing the gap between the cabinet and the door.

Also, the chilled air leakage preventing device further includes restoring springs for restoring the chilled air leakage preventing member from the position in which the gap between the cabinet and the door is sealed up to a predetermined position when the door is opened.

Also, the chilled air leakage preventing member further includes a rotating shaft provided at one side of each of the plate-shaped wings, and locking hooks extended from the rotating shaft and operative to contact the cabinet when the door is closed and to thus rotate the plate-shaped wing.

Also, a wing accommodating groove is formed in an inner plate of the door and accommodates the plate-shaped wing when the door is opened.

Also, the refrigerator further includes door guards, provided inside the door, adapted to accommodate bottles. Door guardrails are provided in the inner plate of the door. The chilled air leakage preventing device is installed at the outside of the door guard rails.

The present invention further provides a refrigerator having a chilled air leakage prevention device, comprising a cabinet for forming a refrigerator compartment and a freezer compartment side by side; two doors for opening and closing the refrigerator compartment and the freezer compartment, respectively; gaskets provided at rims of the doors for sealing a gap between the cabinet and the doors; door guards provided in an inner side of the doors adapted to accommodate bottles and food; door guard rails installed to right and left sides of each door in a longitudinal direction of each door and on which the door guards are installed; and a chilled air leakage preventing device for preventing chilled air from flowing from the refrigerator and freezer compartments to the gaskets by sealing the gap between the cabinet and the doors when the doors are closed, while being provided between the gaskets and the door guard rails.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the exemplary embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a chilled air leakage preventing device of a refrigerator according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a planar sectional view of the refrigerator in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the portion A in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a front view illustrating the inside of the refrigerator door in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the inner plate of the door and the chilled air leakage preventing device of the refrigerator of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATIVE, NON-LIMITING EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, a refrigerator including a device for preventing chilled air from leaking according to an illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, a refrigerator according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a rectangular cabinet 100 having an open front side and right and left doors 200 for opening and closing the open front side of the cabinet 100. The internal space of the cabinet 100 is divided in two by an intermediate partition wall such that two storage compartments 110 are formed on the right and left sides, and the two doors 200 open and close the respective storage compartments 110.

A plurality of shelves 120 is provided for partitioning the storage compartments 110 into upper storage spaces and lower storage spaces. Generally, the shelves 120 are detachably installed to adjust their installation height, and food containers are placed on the shelves 120. Box-shaped storage containers 130 are provided in the lower sides of the storage compartments 110 such that vegetables and fruits can be easily stored.

Door guards 210 for accommodating bottles and containers are provided inside each of the doors 200. The door guards 210 are installed on door guard rails 220 that longitudinally protrude from both sides of each of the doors 200 to each of the storage compartments 110.

As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, the cabinet 100 includes an outer plate 101 made of a metal plate that forms the external appearance of the cabinet 100 and an inner plate 102 made of plastic resin and provided inside the outer plate 101 so as to be spaced apart from the outer plate 101. A urethane foam insulating material 103 is filled between the outer plate 101 and the inner plate 102. The outer plate 101 is bent from the side to the front to cover the front side of the cabinet 100. The metal outer plate 101 is provided in the front of the intermediate partition wall formed between the two inner plates 102 to be connected to the two inner plates 102 (see FIG. 3).

The outer upper and lower sides of each of the doors 200 are hinged to the cabinet 100 such that the doors 200 are provided to the front side of the cabinet 100 to cover the front side of the cabinet 100. The doors 200 include outer plates 201 made of a metal plate that forms the external appearance of the doors 200 and inner plates 202 made of plastic resin that are spaced apart from the outer plates 201 and that face the storage compartments 110 like the cabinet 100. A urethane foam insulating material 203 is filled between the outer plates 201 and the inner plates 202.

Gaskets 230 of a conventional structure for sealing gaps between the cabinet 100 and the doors 200 are provided on the inner circumferences of the doors 200 that cover the front of the cabinet 100. The gaskets 230 are made of elastic rubber and the insides thereof are hollow to buffer shocks generated when the doors 200 are opened and closed. Magnets 231 are inserted into the gaskets 230 such that the gaskets 230 are releasably attached by magnetic force to the outer plate 101 made of a metal plate that is bent to the front of the cabinet 100. In order to fix the gaskets 230 to the doors 200, concave pockets 202 a are formed in the inner plates 202 in the positions where the gaskets 230 are provided and locking pieces 232 inserted into the pockets 202 a are provided in the gaskets 230.

Referring to FIG. 3, the gaskets 230 seal the gaps between the doors 200 and the cabinet 100 when the doors 200 are closed. However, if only the conventional gaskets are used, since the doors 200 and the cabinet 100 are spaced apart from each other, chilled air leaks through the gaps C between the doors 200 and the cabinet 100. When the refrigerator is designed such that the doors 200 fully contact the cabinet 100 such that the gaps C are not generated, it is possible to prevent chilled air from leaking. For example, the refrigerator may be designed such that the door guard rails 220 closely contact the corresponding inner plate 102, or the door inner parts, adjacent to regions of the door with which the gaskets 230 are coupled, closely contact the corresponding outer plate 101. In this case, when the door is opened, the door guard rails 220 pivoted when the door is opened damage the corresponding inner plate 102, and when the door is closed, the door guard rails 220 and the inner part directly impact the corresponding inner and outer plates with a load corresponding to the weight of the door. Thus, the corresponding inner and outer plates may be damaged. Therefore, it is inevitable that the cabinet 100 and the doors 200 are spaced apart from each other.

The refrigerator according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes chilled air leakage preventing devices 300 for closing the gaps C between the cabinet 100 and the doors 200 in order to prevent the chilled air from leaking to the gaps C between the cabinet 100 and the doors 200.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the chilled air leakage preventing devices 300 are provided on the upper and lower and right and left sides on the outer circumference of the door guard rails 220. The structure of the air leakage preventing devices 300 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 5.

First, referring to FIG. 5, the chilled air leakage preventing devices 300 each include a chilled air leakage preventing member 310 for blocking the gap C between the cabinet 100 and the door 200, and a restoring spring 320 for restoring the chilled air leakage preventing member 310 to a predetermined position. The chilled air leakage preventing member 310 includes a longitudinal rectangular plate-shaped wing 311, a rotating shaft 312 provided to a long side of the side of the wing 311, and a plurality of locking hooks 313 extended from the rotating shaft 312 and having leading ends bent toward the wing 311. The restoring spring 320 is a coil spring having opposite ends that extend and a cylindrically winding intermediate portion, wherein the one end of the restoring spring 320 is supported by the wing 311 and the other end of the restoring spring 320 is supported by the inner plate 202. The restoring spring 320 may be installed at both ends and/or an intermediate portion of the rotating shaft 312.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 5, the installation and operation of the chilled air leakage preventing device 300 will be described as follows.

The chilled air leakage preventing devices 300 are provided outside of the door guard rails 220. Arch-shaped rotating shaft accommodating grooves 202 b, into which the rotating shafts 312 of the chilled air leakage preventing members 310 are accommodated, are formed at the starting position where the door guard rails 220 of the inner plates 202 of the doors 200 protrude. Wing accommodating grooves 202 c for accommodating wings 311 of the chilled air leakage preventing members 310 are provided in the outside of the door guard rails 220 so as to be connected to the rotating shaft accommodating grooves 202 b. A plurality of locking hook accommodating grooves 202 d are formed in the inner plates 202 extended from the rotating shaft accommodating grooves 202 b to the gaskets 230 such that locking hooks 313 can be accommodated in the positions corresponding to the locking hooks 313. The rotating shaft supporting grooves 202 e are formed in each of the inner plates 202 of the doors 200 such that both ends of each of rotating shafts 312 are inserted thereinto.

The chilled air leakage preventing members 310 are provided in the outside of the door guard rails 220 in a state where both ends of each of the rotating shafts 312 are inserted into the rotating shaft supporting grooves 202 e of each of the inner plates 202 and where the rotating shafts 312 are inserted into the rotating shaft accommodating grooves 202 b. One end of each of the restoring springs 320 is supported by each of the wings 311 and the other end of each of restoring springs 320 is supported by each of the inner plates 202 of the doors 200 so as to push the wings 311 toward the wing accommodating grooves 202 c formed in the outside of the door guard rails 220. Therefore, when the doors 200 are opened, as illustrated in the left door 200 of FIG. 3, the wings 311 are placed in the wing accommodating grooves 202 c.

When the doors 200 are closed, as illustrated in the right door 200 of FIG. 3, the leading end of each of the locking hooks 313 of the chilled air leakage preventing members 310 comes into contact with the front side of the cabinet 100 such that the chilled air leakage preventing members 310 are rotated in the counter-clockwise direction. The wings 311 protrude from the wing accommodating grooves 202 c to seal the gaps C between the cabinet 100 and the inner plates 202 of the doors 200. The locking hooks 313 are accommodated in the locking hook accommodating grooves 202 d. Therefore, the gaps between the cabinet 100 and the doors 200 are once sealed up by the gaskets 230 and are again sealed by the chilled air leakage preventing members 300 such that it is possible to prevent the chilled air in the storage compartments 110 from leaking.

When the doors 200 are opened, the chilled air leakage preventing members 310 are restored by the restoring springs 320 such that the wings 311 are placed in the wing accommodating grooves 202 c. Therefore, the wings 311 do not protrude to the outside when the doors 200 are opened such that the external appearance of the refrigerator does not deteriorate and such that it is possible to prevent a food container from colliding with the wings 311 to thus be damaged when the food container is inserted into or withdrawn from the storage compartments 110.

As described above, the chilled air leakage preventing devices of the refrigerator according to the present invention seal the gaps between the cabinet and the doors, and are restored such that, when the doors are opened, the wings of the chilled air leakage preventing members are accommodated in the accommodating grooves.

Therefore, regardless of the temperature at the inside of the storage compartments, in a state where the doors are closed, the gaps between the cabinet and the doors are always sealed up such that it is possible to obtain excellent insulating efficiency. When the doors are opened, since the wings are accommodated in the accommodating grooves, the external appearance of the refrigerator is aesthetically pleasing and it is possible to prevent a food container from being damaged when the food container is inserted into or withdrawn from the storage compartments.

Although an exemplary embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made to this embodiment without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents. 

1. A refrigerator comprising: a cabinet for forming at least one storage compartment; at least one door for opening and closing the storage compartment; a gasket, provided to the circumference of the door, for sealing a gap between the cabinet and the door; and a chilled air leakage preventing device for further sealing the gap between the cabinet and the door when the door is closed.
 2. The refrigerator as set forth in claim 1, wherein the chilled air leakage preventing device is provided on at least one of an upper and lower and right and left sides of the door.
 3. The refrigerator as set forth in claim 1, wherein the chilled air leakage preventing device comprises a chilled air leakage preventing member having a plate-shaped wing for sealing the gap between the cabinet and the door.
 4. The refrigerator as set forth in claim 3, wherein the chilled air leakage preventing device further comprises restoring springs for restoring the chilled air leakage preventing member from a position for sealing the gap between the cabinet and the door to a predetermined position, when the door is opened.
 5. The refrigerator as set forth in claim 4, wherein the chilled air leakage preventing member further comprises: a rotating shaft provided at one side of the plate-shaped wing; and locking hooks extended from the rotating shaft and operative to contact the cabinet when the door is closed and to thus rotate the plate-shaped wing.
 6. The refrigerator as set forth in claim 5, further comprising a wing accommodating groove, formed in an inner plate of the door, for accommodating the plate-shaped wing when the door is opened.
 7. The refrigerator as set forth in claim 6, wherein the door comprises door guards, provided inside the door, adapted to accommodate bottles, and the inner plate of the door further comprises protruded door guardrails on which the door guards are installed, wherein the chilled air leakage preventing device is installed at the outside of the door guard rails.
 8. A refrigerator having a chilled air leakage prevention device, comprising: a cabinet for forming a refrigerator compartment and a freezer compartment side by side; two doors for opening and closing the refrigerator compartment and the freezer compartment, respectively; gaskets provided at rims of the doors for sealing a gap between the cabinet and the doors; door guards provided in an inner side of the doors adapted to accommodate bottles and food; door guard rails installed to right and left sides of each door in a longitudinal direction of each door and on which the door guards are installed; and a chilled air leakage preventing device for preventing chilled air from flowing from the refrigerator and freezer compartments to the gaskets by sealing the gap between the cabinet and the doors when the doors are closed, while being provided between the gaskets and the door guard rails.
 9. The refrigerator as set forth in claim 8, wherein the chilled air leakage preventing device comprises a chilled air leakage preventing member having a plate-shaped wing for sealing the gap between the cabinet and a correspond one of the doors.
 10. The refrigerator as set forth in claim 9, wherein the chilled air leakage preventing device further comprises elastic members for restoring the chilled air leakage preventing member from a position for sealing the gap between the cabinet and the corresponding door to a predetermined position, when the corresponding door is opened.
 11. The refrigerator as set forth in claim 10, wherein the chilled air leakage preventing member further comprises: a rotating shaft provided at one side of the plate-shaped wing; and locking hooks extended from the rotating shaft and operative to contact the cabinet when the corresponding door is closed and to thus rotate the plate-shaped wing.
 12. The refrigerator as set forth in claim 11, further comprising a wing accommodating groove, formed at the sides of the door guard rails adjacent to an inner plate of the corresponding door, for accommodating the plate-shaped wing when the corresponding door is opened. 